In the fruit fly Drosophila, juxtaposition of phenotypically different cells can lead to cell competition, resulting in killing of one of the two cell types, followed by removal of the dead cells by phagocytic immune cells known as hemocytes. Here the authors show that, in experimental models of cell competition, hemocytes are recruited independently of cell death and in fact participate directly in cell killing.
- Yilun Zhu
- Zeba Wunderlich
- Arthur D. Lander
